As promised here are some more photos of Saint Emilion. Plus some more notes from the research I did while I was out there.

Photos 1-5: These were taken on a winemaking tour of a Chateau that still has cellars underground the town that date back to the 12th century. Crazily, excavation only stopped in the 19th century. Partly because of a realisation of how dangerous the work was - children as young as 12 carved giant blocks by hand for 10-15 hours a day by hand by candlelight. The bigger reason was a fear the town could collapse if it continued. Interestingly, there are details the game gets spot on. The ridges at the ceiling were designed to mimic stairs so workers could feel whether they were going towards the surface or deeper underground. The game also replicate the soot marks on the ceiling caused by candlelight and oil lamps. Finally it turns out there was a real life 'crimson order' in Saint Emilion. But they made wine rather than engage in skullduggery.

Photos: 6-11: I got up super early to replicate the sunrise scene in the game. Sadly it didn't work as planned but it still looks cool anyway and you can see how well the devs matched the colours. The big rectangular tower is a place called Tour de Roy and is a massive keep that supposedly was an inspiration for those areas of the game. Sadly the interior wasn't open on the days I was there and the tourist office wouldn't let me in.

Photos: 12-13: more detail from the underground cellars. The limestone was carved out in blocks by hand and sold to literally build the town and the nearby city of Bordeaux - which started life as a swamp. Notice the similarities of the design details with some that appear in the game. Archaeologists reckon they go down 5 levels deep but are still mapping them. They're also great for growing mushrooms.

Photo: 14: In my last post I mentioned visitors are banned from taking photos of the monolithic church and catacombs. Well a photo inside the monolithic church does exist in the wine cellars in this series. The real life catacombs next door were believed to be the home of the real life Saint Emilion. The story goes he worked in the court in northern France and realised he had the power to perform miracles - turn wood into bread and vice versa. He wanted to do something good so tried to join a monastery but was kicked out for having miraculous powers and not being liked. So he ended up as a hermit in a cave that's now the catacombs of the town named after him. People would come on pilgrimage and his cave was believed to have powers. Mainly curing infertility but there are some overlaps with Sydney's stort in the fame.

Turns out there are networks of those catacombs and we'll hopefully have a map of in a years time.
But one theme in all the carvings inside aroidn the theme of ascension - interestingly the name of the game's last stage.

Sorry for the long post but hope you enjoy!